The Congressional Innovation Fellowship

The Congressional Innovation Fellowship places technologists in Congressional offices to provide expertise on technology policy. The fellowship aims to help build a critical mass of technology expertise in government by ensuring informed decision-making on issues like cybersecurity, privacy, and emerging technologies.

We are recruiting up to 20 fellows for the January 2027 Congressional Innovation Fellowship: 10 fellows to serve in Democratic offices and 10 to serve in Republican offices. For the January 2027 cohort, we are searching for both early- and mid-career technologists.

We’re expanding our fellow profile beyond just “technologist” in the traditional sense. We’re hoping to have at least 2 fellows who fit within one of the following verticals:

• Climate & energy

• Government innovation

• Science, research, and innovation

If you have a technical degree and/or have worked in engineering, development, journalism, scientific, legal, or government roles in any of these spaces then we also encourage you to apply! You can find more information about our verticals in our Apply FAQs.

Please note that selecting or not selecting a vertical on your application does not impact how your application is scored. It just helps us figure out what issues you’re interested in working on!

stipend and benefits

Senior (mid-career) Fellows will serve in their offices from January through December 2027. They will have the option of a one-month extension, through January 2028, to write about their experience and to provide extra time for a post-fellowship job search. We're looking for our mid-career fellows to have at least eight years of work or postgraduate study. Mid-career fellows (Senior Fellows) receive a stipend of $100,600/year.

Congressional Innovation (early career) Fellows will serve in their offices from January - October 2027. Early career fellows will have between two to six years of full-time experience (or having recently finished or projected to finish a graduate technical degree program, such as a Master’s or PhD, before the start of the program in January 2027). Early career fellows (Fellows) receive a $78,000 annual-equivalent stipend.

Applicants with seven years of experience qualify for an intermediate tier with the stipend allocated based on relative experience, and may select both tiers when applying. Our application reviewers will determine final eligibility.

TechCongress additionally provides the following benefits:

• A health insurance supplement of up to $425/month*,

• Up to $2,000 for relocation to Washington, D.C. for those moving from outside the area,

• A reimbursement of up to $2,000 for accommodation for the first month of the fellowship in the D.C. area for short term housing (Airbnb, etc.) to ease the transition,

• Up to $2,000 for official travel, including a visit to the home district of your boss,

• A $500 clothing allowance for purchases of professional attire ,

• Up to three sessions with a career coach to help plan for post-fellowship opportunities.